'Continents move faster than Stafford's roadworks'
Former business owner Andy Keen told BBC Midlands Today that, while he understood roadworks had to take place, they needed to be done "faster", as they were causing people to shop elsewhere."Continents are moving faster than the roadworks are happening," he said. "The pace they're taking place at is just too slow. It needs to happen far, far quicker."
Jill Atkinson, owner of Queensville Stores, based in Queensville, said the roadworks were currently the worst they have ever been in her 46 years at the shop."It's had a massive effect since last September," she said. "We're just a small business and it's been really, really hard."It's affecting us, our staff, our livelihood – absolutely everything, really. It's just gone from bad to worse."Mrs Atkinson said people often did not realise they could still visit the shop while the roadworks were in place, and they had to throw more out-of-date produce away due to the fall in customers."We've worked long and hard for many years, and it's like it's being taken away," she added.
Councillor Peter Mason, cabinet member for highways at the council, said the authority would refrain from adding any new non-essential works in heavily disrupted areas for the next three months."It is very clear to me that we need to do more to improve the condition of Staffordshire's roads," he said."This does come with inevitable disruption, which is to be expected, but we must do everything we can to minimise this."This includes changing how we programme these works so not so many are done at the same time."
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